I'm enjoying it so far, I'm about two thirds through. It's different than I expected (my husband described this as the quintessential wizard school book). I'm very curious about where she expands the world to in other books.

I'll be honest - my main complaint so far is how generic-fantasy it is in terms of gender representation (all witches are homely, women can do good magic, the one powerful woman magic worker so far is evil and manipulative...). So yeah, I'll see how it goes.

Finished The Providence of Fire last night. Was not impressed. The first book in the trilogy I liked, enough to immediately get the 2nd from the library. Had a few issues - 1) didn't really have a build up. Stuff happens, then more stuff, then more stuff. The plot advances, and unexpected things happen, but it didn't seem like there was a build up to the climax. It just sort of happened.

Also, the main female character pissed me off. Not sure if she was either poorly written, or written ok, but just an annoying fucking character. I'm leaning towards the former. It annoyed me enough I'm not sure I want to read the third. Might skim it, or say fuck it and read the wikipedia summary.

When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up. - CS Lewis

I've been reading The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and it's a really fun book. If you're looking for a space-opera novel with a somewhat mundane (i.e. not "save the universe!!") story with really awesome queer representation and lots of in-depth alien races world-building, I highly recommend it.

Just started reading "Ready Player One." I really wanted to read it before seeing the movie, and I hear it's kinda a combination of Snowcrash, with a whole bunch of 80's pop culture and game nostalgia thrown in for good measure. I'm kinda stoked.

Belial wrote:I am not even in the same country code as "the mood for this shit."

It's kind of fun if you're into the 80s references. The story isn't particularly believable and I found the characters very bland and mostly problematic stereotypes. It's kind of like a bad fanfic about the 80s.

Zohar wrote:It's kind of fun if you're into the 80s references. The story isn't particularly believable and I found the characters very bland and mostly problematic stereotypes. It's kind of like a bad fanfic about the 80s.

That’s definitely a fair characterization. When I first read it, I found it more enjoyable, but I was also much younger then. Going back, it’s not nearly as good as I’d thought it was. The movie is also OK — not great, not terrible.

I've been reading Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London stuff lately. I wasn't initially sure I'd go for it, particularly with the intro where Peter is lusting after Lesley and I was totally put off by it, but Peter's grown on me, and it's different than much of the other stuff I might typically read.

He does not spout ever more, new stupidities. He "diversifies his wrongness portfolio."(My pronouns are She/Her/Hers)

Yeah, he lusts after her, but only in a discrete kind of way. He’s not a stalker, he’s not pushy, he just admires her. I was quite pissed when one bunch if readers decided Aaronovich was a horrible human being because a young male character was sexually attracted to a female character. Heck, Peter admires Lesley’s abilities with spells and such as much as her body. And she is always better at stuff than he is, magic, police work, etc. All in all it’s one of my favorite fantasy series from the last few years.It has also been done as a set of graphic novels, which are pretty good.

Don’t become a well-rounded person. Well rounded people are smooth and dull. Become a thoroughly spiky person. Grow spikes from every angle. Stick in their throats like a puffer fish.

Yeah, that's fair, and largely why I got over it and really like Peter as a character now. I also think he's just fantastic to have as a viewpoint character because his inherent curiosity and tendency toward analysis makes him a satisfying way to explore a world.

He does not spout ever more, new stupidities. He "diversifies his wrongness portfolio."(My pronouns are She/Her/Hers)

Zohar wrote:It's kind of fun if you're into the 80s references. The story isn't particularly believable and I found the characters very bland and mostly problematic stereotypes. It's kind of like a bad fanfic about the 80s.

It kind of is. Fast read, and amusing in certain regards, but if you're looking for great literature, you definitely ought to look elsewhere. I read it when I had time to kill, and only airport-bookstore level of popularity books available, so no regrets. Film was, likewise, a fun spectacle, but no urge to rewatch whatsoever.

A bit thin on stuff to read at present. Sort of wish Pratchett or Banks were still alive. Or that another Dresden Files had come out.

Currently cruising through How to Avoid Death on a Daily Basis. Web serial with an odd mix of humor and cringe. The viewpoint char is kind of an awful person, which can impede enjoyment of lots of it, but I've made it a fair way despite that.

A friend suggest Constellation Games as a similar genre-savvy sort of book. It was pretty fun - humans make first contact with a bunch of aliens and some random guy decides he wants to study the alien cultures by reviewing their video games.